Protesters try to topple statue outside White House

The wave of statue toppling in the US has reached the front of the White House.

Protesters get a rope around the statue of Andrew Jackson outside the White House. Picture: AFP

The wave of statue toppling in the US has reached the front of the White House with protesters trying to pull down the iconic statue of Andrew Jackson that stands opposite the president’s home.

The brazen attack on the statue of Jackson, America’s seventh president, failed as police used pepper spray to force hundreds of protesters back after they tried to use ropes to bring the bronze statue down on Monday night (Tuesday AEST).

The Jackson statue is one of the country’s best known because it stands in Lafayette Square overlooking the White House and has appeared in countless tourist photographs.

Jackson, president from 1829 to 1837, is one of Donald Trump’s favourite figures and a portrait of him hangs in the Oval Office.

The marble base of the statue had already been defaced with graffiti when protesters suddenly threw ropes around the stature and tried to pull it down before police could stop them. They failed, but such an attack on the doorstep of the White House will embarrass security officials at a time when statues of Confederate soldiers as well as presidents and other historical figures are increasingly under attack across America.

The area around Lafayette Square outside the White House has resembled a war zone ever since the large George Floyd protests several weeks ago, with buildings boarded up, statues defaced, graffiti sprayed across buildings and daily protests.

Jackson was a polarising figure, having been a military hero, a slave-owner, a lawyer, a judge and a planter. He was the only president to serve in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, but he supported slavery and forced Native Americans off their land in 1830, leading to the Trail Tears march that cost the lives of thousands.

Mr Trump has said he identifies with Jackson, who was an outsider and a populist. He opposed calls by the Obama administration to replace Jackson from the $US20 bill and replace him with abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman.

Protesters outside the White House were calling themselves the Black House Autonomous Zone or “BHAZ”.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky news Australia